I studied electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois before switching to intercultural communication, because partially, I found it a helluva lot more difficult to solve.

I think the challenge with DEI is the framing of it. If we called it intercultural competence, or intercultural teambuilding, or whatever, then it focuses on how we are a highly multicultural society in the US and that there are huge benefits to being able to connect and collaborate with people across a wide variety of cultures.

Have customers who are in a rural area? Well, sometimes it's really hard for people in the city to comprehend what rural life is like, sometimes much easier to have someone on your team from the rural area to provide that tacit knowledge. Sell beauty supplies and looking to get into the African-American market? Can be really hard for white men to know the tacit knowledge involved in managing 4c level curly hair (most white men probably have never knew there was a classification system on the level of curliness of hair).

I worked in innovation consulting for a few years. The ability to empathize and connect with people across cultures may be one of the most important skills in innovation and problem solving. So maybe it's just a framing issue.

>If we called [DEI] intercultural competence, or intercultural teambuilding, or whatever, then it focuses on how we are a highly multicultural society in the US and that there are huge benefits to being able to connect and collaborate with people across a wide variety of cultures.

And it would be a lie because DEI is not solely about race.

Culture isn't race. Not sure where I said race is the only thing of DEI.

It might not be about race, per se, but when on the flip side the effect is to exclude people based on race or gender, it does kind of become about race, doesn’t it?

I don’t see DEI helping poor white males, for example, and there’s a lot of those in America. Even those whose families don’t own property and have never been to college.

Then isn't that a call to improve DEI, not just get rid of it completely?

It's interesting that you're willing to accept the anti-DEI crowd's motives on good faith, but not the DEI initiatives'

> the truth in many cases is that it is an excuse to exclude white males.

One might think that the current pushes are an excuse to exclude various minorities. Considering what DEI initiatives were born of just a few decades ago, I don't think that's an unreasonable conclusion either.

I do think there's some truth to listen to from those so opposed to the initiatives - there's some that go too far and should be reigned in - but, as others have pointed out in this thread, drinking the Kool Aid with this push isn't really going to fix anything. It's just swinging back and forth on the political pendulum. Is that really what people want?

Please don’t put words in my mouth.

There have been enough real examples to know that not every program at every institution and workplace is run completely above board. If it were, hiring proportions would not be so out of whack at certain places. White people make up 85% of the US population. A purely meritocratic system would likely show a similar distribution in most settings. But that’s not what has happened. Further, using words like privilege in a derogatory fashion, and telling people the things they do are by default oppressive aren’t going to win you many friends. It’s an “I’m right, you’re wrong, deal with it” attitude that has turned many Americans off.

I know good programs exist, run by good people who have good intentions, and they may even be the majority, but just like anything else, as I said, I understand where these people are coming from. If you think it’s solely ignorance or hatred, you need to work on your empathy skills. Not every person who disagrees with affirmative action or DEI is hateful.

Where did I 'put words in your mouth'?

Also, the white population in America is less than 60%, according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_Sta...

Out of curiosity, on what are you basing your assertion that "that's not what happened"? Did hiring demographics swing wildly in the other direction when DEI initiatives were introduced?

(I didn't use the word privilege; in fact you seem to be ignoring any consideration of what I actually said.)